3 In Defence: Can Pep Guardiola slay the dragon he helped build?

The Champions League marches on, and theScore’s trio of footy editors debate the key topics ahead of this week’s mouthwatering semi-final clashes. You better believe the takes are going to be hot.

Barcelona’s fearsome attacking triumvirate is scorching hot of late. Is there any reason to believe Pep Guardiola can figure out a way to slow them down?

Gordon Brunt: Pep Guardiola is a good bet to be the first manager to successfully contain Barcelona’s three-headed monster, a feat barely anyone’s been able to achieve for the better part of the season when the three South Americans began their scoring blitz. However, Guardiola’s battered Bayern Munich squad will have to make do without key players through injury and could struggle to maintain the elite focus and quality needed to keep the ball out of their own net. 

It’d be hard to imagine Guardiola’s ability to adapt and successfully adjust his defence doesn’t occur by the end of the two legs, yet he’ll obviously hope it occurs in Spain during the first game. Whichever way it plays out, it should ultimately be a treat for football fans to see these two goliaths battle in a pairing worthy of a final. 

Carlo Campo: Possession. It sounds obvious - and it is - but if Pep Guardiola can ensure that Bayern Munich dictate the tempo of the tie and slice the 70-percent possession that Barcelona normally enjoy down to about 50 percent, the Catalan club's attacking line will inevitably be slowed down.

And it's entirely possible. After all, Bayern themselves are a side that normally consume about 70 percent of possession.

If it weren't for the injuries that have hit Bayern, there would be every reason to believe that the Bundesliga champions can keep Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar off the scoresheet entirely. However, the absence of key players has exposed holes in Bayern's defense and will make it tough for the club to limit Barcelona's South America trio by holding on to the ball.

Gianluca Nesci: There are two ways to approach this for Bayern Munich. They can sit back and try to absorb pressure, hoping that their defense can hold out for 90 minutes - and that Barcelona's megastars are not firing on all cylinders. It's not a good idea, but it's an idea.

The second, more logical, approach is what we are likely to see in the opening leg on Wednesday: Bayern trying to keep possession and kill the game off by never letting Barcelona have the ball.

The concern there, however, is that under Luis Enrique, Barcelona has transformed into a deadly counter-attacking unit. Whereas they once were bereft of ideas if they couldn't tiki-taka you to death, now there is a very clear Plan-B, and it is almost impossible to stop. It'll be an intriguing battle of wits and tactics between the two managers, but at the end of the day, the players win the games, and Barcelona - given the depleted nature of Bayern's squad - simply has better players.

Lionel Messi is not available, but every other player from both Barcelona and Bayern Munich is up for grabs. You can only have one. Who would you take?

Brunt: With so much talent to choose from, Luis Suarez is the man to build an elite team around. It was a bit of a rocky start to life in Spain, but the Uruguayan has obviously found his comfort zone in a squad vastly different than the Liverpool team he helped transform into a Champions League calibre squad last season. Suarez proved his worth outside the goal-scoring realm in the early part of the season when he played the role of provider in expert fashion when goals were hard to come by. The goals eventually came and Suarez has proven to be one of the main components behind Barcelona’s otherworldly performances and success.

Campo: Neymar. Zero doubts about it.

Barcelona's attacking line of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar is so devastating that it's easy to overlook just how much of an impact the Brazilian phenom is capable of making on a match.

His abilities in one-on-one situations are on another level and few players can cut into their opponent's box so casually. He won't hesitate to humiliate defenders in the process, providing the type of individual entertainment on the pitch that every supporter wants to see from a player in their side.

A similar case can be made for Suarez, but as I'm forced to make a decision, I'll gladly take Neymar.

Nesci: This comes down to two men for me. Neymar and David Alaba. 

(Call me a sucker for a left-footed wing-back who can play virtually anywhere on the field and be the best player in that position).

The Brazilian, 23, is quickly establishing himself as one of the first names in the conversation behind Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the debate over the world's top footballer. He backs up his tricks and flicks with numbers that have seldom been seen from an attacker of his age.

His Austrian counterpart, still just 22, is a free-kick master who has morphed from a left wing-back into someone that can do anything and everything - and do it at a foolishly high level. He's a younger, faster, more attack-minded Philipp Lahm. Yeah, it's unfair.

Are you sure I can't take both? Ugh, fine. Alaba.

All-conquering midfielder Paul Pogba is expected to return for Juventus’ second leg match against Real Madrid next week. Is their midfield strong enough without him to ensure they still have a chance to advance once that return leg rolls around?

Brunt: The impressive Juventus midfield have proven to be a capable unit without the big man terrorizing opponents, but its next test will be the toughest that the Serie A champions have faced to date. 

While playing the first leg in the comfy confines of Juventus Stadium is a boost, the plethora of talented Real Madrid players will relentlessly ask questions of the midfield and back line in an effort to expose weaknesses. If Los Blancos’ advances can reveal a crack that so few teams have been able to find, the defending European champions stand a good chance of coming away with a rare road win in Turin. The margin between the two, however, likely won’t make advancing an unrealistic proposition for Juventus the following week at the Bernabeu.

Campo: Absolutely. Juventus have one of the most revered backlines in European football, and even though the absence of Paul Pogba exposes a bit of space in front of the club's defenders, their midfield is strong enough to contain Real Madrid.

It's also worth noting that Juventus have been handed a lifeline with Luka Modric nursing a sprained MCL. Without Modric playing the role of quarterback and launching Real Madrid's counterattacks, Sergio Ramos is likely to be pushed up into Carlo Ancelotti's midfield.

Ramos is undoubtedly a versatile player who can play higher up if needed, but the absence of Modric should allow Juventus to push forward with fewer worries about being caught on the counter, paving the way for Massimiliano Allegri's side to fire on all cylinders and emerge with a positive result in the first leg.

Nesci: The answer is, quite clearly, yes. While Carlos Tevez has been a phenom in attack and the defense has been stingy all year long, Juventus finds itself in this position because it boasts arguably the best midfield on the planet.

It's not only that Andrea Pirlo (pass master), Arturo Vidal (box-to-box pit bull) and Claudio Marchisio (steady Swiss Army knife) are supremely talented, it's the manner in which they compliment one another so beautifully. The club's midfield is certainly good enough to compete with that of Real Madrid - particularly given the massive absence of lynchpin Luka Modric. 

Sadly for Juventus, that's probably the only area of the pitch - aside from in goal - where they can make such a claim.